VE Day: shoppers swing back to the past

THE toe-tapping sounds of swing filled a busy Arndale Centre as shoppers were transported back to the 1940s. Jive dancers and a swing band were on parade to launch an innovative exhibition on the Second World War, being held at the People's History Museum in Manchester.

THE toe-tapping sounds of swing filled a busy Arndale Centre as shoppers were transported back to the 1940s. Jive dancers and a swing band were on parade to launch an innovative exhibition on the Second World War, being held at the People's History Museum in Manchester.

The exhibition, from May 20, is part of a é10 million, year-long programme of events led by the Imperial War Museum and funded by the Big Lottery Fund to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

The Arndale event featured Bill Glasgow's Swing Band and the GI Jivers, who performed celebration dances in costume.

Their Past Your Future is the theme of exhibitions at the People's Museum, part of which focuses on the North at War, in the Special Exhibitions Gallery until January 8.

One of the organisers, Johanna Damm, said: "The North at War is the first major exhibition to examine the impact of both world wars on the North of England and will be one of the highlights in the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Second World War."